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Night of the Lizard
Night of the Lizard is the very first episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. This episode introduces Spider-Man, the Lizard and several other supporting characters that would appear throughout the series. Plot As Spider-Man stares into the city, he shots his web and swings off. Meanwhile, in the subway tunnel, two maintenance workers are attacked by a giant humanoid lizard. One escapes, but the other gets captured. The subway worker who escaped still believes that the creature is after him so he drives away like a maniac. Spider-Man spots him from above and web-swings after him. As Spider-Man lands on top of the van, he orders the driver to stop. This distracts the subway worker, and he almost crashes but swerves out of the way just in time. However, the van heads for the river. At the last moment, Spider-Man saves them before the van plunges into the bottom of the pier. The subway worker then talks hysterically about a creature with red eyes, which Spider-Man brushes off as nothing. Later that day at the Daily Bugle, editor Joseph Robertson gives Peter Parker an assignment to take a photo of the Lizard. Peter asks who this is. J. Jonah Jameson walks in and tells him that if he ever got here on time, he would know what was going on. At that moment, Eddie Brock walks in and says that if this wasn't serious, he would have gotten the assignment. Jameson then hands Peter a photo of the subway worker who went missing, and Eddie told him he has a list of scientists who work on reptiles. As Peter learns that one of the names is Dr. Curt Connors, he says he is one of his teachers, and he is an expert in recombinant DNA in retirement Genix. Jameson then gives the job interviewing Curt Connors to Peter. Peter then mentions that he believes that this is just a hoax, but he accepts the job. Jameson tells him whoever gets a picture of the Lizard first will receive a bonus of $1,000. Later that night, Peter returns home excited about what he could buy if he got $1,000. However, he learns that his Aunt May is in financial trouble. He decides that if he gets the money, he will give it to her. Peter as Spider-Man then crawls into the sewer to search for the Lizard. At first, he believes that the Lizard is just an urban legend, but finds a giant footprint and takes a picture of it. A few minutes later, Peter takes the photo to Empire State University to show it to Dr. Curt Connors. On his way to the lab, Peter is stopped by Debra Whitman, another ESU student. As they walk into the building, Eddie Brock hears them and hides. Peter then hears a noise coming from the lab, and his spider-sense goes off. Every light in the building then go off. As they enter the laboratory, Dr. Connors warns them to stay away. Debra runs up to try and help him, but discovers that it isn't Curt Connors, but instead it's the Lizard. Debra then screams for Peter's help, and the Lizard jumps out of the window. Peter attempts to chase after him, but Debra begs him not to leave her alone. Peter then recalls about an experiment he helped the doctor with. During the experiment, Peter took the blood from a lizard and injected it into a mouse that's missing one leg. Dr. Connors then exposed the mouse to radiation from a device called the Neogenic Recombinator, and the mouse regrew its leg. Then as Dr. Connors touches his shoulder with the lost arm he says they will do the same thing for human beings. Peter is then shown in his Spider-Man costume, and he wonders why anybody would want to kidnap Dr. Connors. He then swings away through the city. In another part of the city, the Lizard is shown crawling out of the sewer and up to the house. Inside the house, his wife and son, Margaret and Billy, are in the kitchen cooking. As Margaret looks around, she sees someone and shouts to stay away. However, it's just Spider-Man who tells her that he's just looking for Kurt. Margaret then tells him that she won't let him get hurt, much to Spider-Man's confusion. Outside the Connors home, Eddie Brock is attacked by the Lizard. However, he runs away before the Lizard can bring harm to him. Spider-Man then goes outside and takes a photo of the Lizard, but accidentally drops the camera in a water puddle. As Spider-Man swings around, the Lizard picks up Billy's tricycle and throws it at him. However, Spider-Man dodges the attack. He then attempts to shoot a web at the Lizard, but he catches it and throws Spider-Man into Billy's tree house. Margaret and Billy emerge outside, and the son calls the Lizard daddy. The Lizard then vanishes into thin air. Spider-Man then walks up to Margaret and asks if he heard Billy right. Margaret then replies that the Lizard is Curt. She goes on to tell Spider-Man that Curt exposed himself to radiation from the Neogenic Recombinator after injecting himself with lizard DNA. It worked in regrowing his arm, but also turned him into a man-sized lizard. Spider-Man then hears Eddie run away, and he chases after him and catches him in his web. He then tells him he won't let him ruin Connors life. At that moment, his spider-sense goes off, and he web-swings back to the Connors house. Then, he asks Billy where his mother was, and Billy replies that his father came back and took her into the sewer. As Spider-Man enters the sewer, he hears Margaret's voice, and he follows the sound of it. He then comes across the missing subway worker, who's held prisoner in a cage, and Spider-Man frees him. The worker then mentions the Lizard needed his help in building some kind of machine. At that moment, Spider-Man hears Margaret's scream again, and he follows the sound of her voice. Spider-Man catches up with the Lizard. The Lizard tells Margaret that the reason he kidnapped her was because he needs her to operate the Neogenic Recombinator. That's because his hands are too big to operate the controls. The Lizard says he's about to use it to turn everyone in the city into lizard creatures. Margaret attempts to convince the Lizard that what he's doing is wrong. While she does that, Spider-Man attacks him. Curt then totally loses control of his mind to the reptile side and becomes an unthinkable monster. Margaret then picks up the Neogenic Recombinator, and the Lizard accidentally hit her with his tail. The Neogenic Recombinator flies across the room. As Spider-Man web-swings across the room, he grabs the Neogenic Recombinator. The Lizard then tackles him, and they both fall into the water below. During their battle, Spider-Man activates the Neogenic Recombinator, which turns the Lizard back into a human. However, the mutated blood is poured down the drain. Spider-Man grabs the camera, and then takes them back home. The next day, Eddie Brock drags J. Jonah Jameson to Curt Connors' house to show him pictures of the Lizard. Jameson has his doubts that Connors is the Lizard, and Eddie says that if he's wrong, he will eat today's issue of the Daily Bugle. After Eddie rings the doorbell, Kurt opens the door and greets Mr. Jameson. J. Jonah Jameson then hands Eddie the newspaper, and asks if he likes it cooked or raw. Back at the Parker house, Peter hands Aunt May the money for her bills. Aunt May asks where he got the money. Peter answers that he got the money by selling an exclusive photo to the Daily Bugle. As Aunt May looks at Peter's photo of Spider-Man fighting the Lizard, she tells him that he must have had germs on him from heading to the sewer. Aunt May is about to make Peter a bowl of hot soup. Sometime later, Spider-Man swings through New York City. He then says that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are stuck together forever. Cast Cameos *Fantastic Four (Mentioned only) *the Avengers (Mentioned only) *the Defenders (Mentioned only) *Hulk (Mentioned only) *Ned Leeds (Byline on a Daily Bugle article) Locations *Earth-92131 :*New York City ::*Subway ::*Daily Bugle ::*The Parker house ::*Sewer ::*Empire State University ::*Curt Connors house Items *Web-Shooters *Neogenic Recombinator Trivia *John Semper Jr. originally wanted the first villain in Spider-Man: The Animated Series to be Venom. However, someone working for the TV network suggested to Semper that he build up slowly to Venom and "save the big guns for later in the season." Semper then chose to use the Lizard for the first villain. *The past due notice that Peter Parker finds in Aunt May's house is signed by Lawrence Kim. Lawrence Kim was a background designer for Spider-Man: The Animated Series. *While Spider-Man is crawling in the sewer he mentions the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders, and the Hulk. :*Spider-Man mentioning the Defenders also brings up an interesting continuity error within the series. In the comics the founding members of the Defenders are Doctor Strange, Hulk, and the Sub-Mariner. However, Spider-Man first meets Doctor Strange in his self titled episode [1] of season three where Spider-Man doesn't even known who Doctor Strange is. This can be explained away by saying that Doctor Strange is a hermit and kept out of the public eye like he did in the comics. *Fox Kids aired this episode about four months before the other season one episodes as a special sneak preview. :*The reason this episode aired months before the rest of the season is because Avi Arad pressured John Semper to finish the episode so he could use it to advertise the Spider-Man toy line from his company, Toy Biz so the toys would sell before Christmas. *Syndicated versions of this episode omit the shot where Lizard accidentally slams his tail into his wife when turning. *This episode is loosely based on Amazing Spider-Man #6 (1963). *Two years before this episode aired the pilot episode of X-Men: The Animated Series used a similar title for the episode, Night of the Sentinels. It is unknown if the two episodes having similar names was intentional or a coincidence. *All of the storyboards for this episode were released to the public and later edited together and dubbed over by the music and voice recordings from the series. Check it out now. *This episode marks the first time that Curt Connors true comic book name is used outside of the comics. In the 1967 Spider-Man series his name was Curt Connors and in the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon the Lizard's human form of Curt Connors is never seen or mentioned. *When Spider-Man sarcastically asks the subway worker if the red eyes he saw belonged to pink elephants this could be a reference to the pink elephants from Disney’s 1941 movie, Dumbo. :*The term "seeing pink elephants" is also a euphemism for drunken hallucination. Spider-Man probably thought that the reason the man was driving so recklessly was because he was drunk. *Another Disney reference is made when Curt Connors calls the ESU lab mouse he experiments on Mickey. This is an obvious reference to Walt Disney's most famous character Mickey Mouse. *In this episode only Peter Parker's spider sense gives him green eyes. *Stan Lee was worried that Mary Jane was not in the pilot episode because he felt that Mary Jane had to be the only woman in Peter Parker's life in the series. However, John Semper Jr. felt that if Peter was not torn between two or more women then it wasn't the Peter Parker everyone had grown up with. As soon as Stan Lee saw how things were playing out in the series all his fears were put to rest, and according to John Semper, Stan Lee was behind him 100%. *This episode features the only time Peter Parker wears a baseball cap. It says ESU. *The door to Curt Connors' office has his name on it but his last name in incorrectly spelled Connors. *Joseph Campanella and Ed Asner previously appeared together in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Episode review Review by Stu from Marvel Animation Age Plot episodes are often the most difficult episodes to produce, as there is a helluva lot of work to do. The characters and the world in which the characters live in must be introduced, and it has to entertain it's audience. No mean feat in a mere 22 minutes. In most fans eyes, it makes or breaks a series, as very few cartoons get better as they go along. So, having said that, you are unlikely to find a better pilot than this. It introduces us to our hero, his supporting characters like Dr. Connors and Debra Whitman ("the little sister I never had, or wanted"), and parts of his life, such as the Bugle, and his relationship with all the cast at work. His dislike of Eddie Brock, his friendship with Robbie, and his irate boss J. Jonah Jameson. Thankfully, and the animation was spectacular, easily the best this series, or any of the other Marvel shows did. It made their first appearance one of the best looking which is always good to see. The storyboarding team did themselves proud in this episode. I also thought the music was up to a much better standard. If the production values had kept up to this quality, this show would possibly be remembered in a Batman: The Animated Series light. It appears the production was much higher on the pilot when compared to all the other episodes. It had a darker feel to it, and it hides the restraints better, as even though Spider-Man wasn't allowed to punch, you never really got the feeling that anyone was lacking. The pilot wasn't anything totally original, as most pilots aren't. It's an adaptation of the origin of the villain, the Lizard. It has the perfect Peter Parker complications, as Peter unknowingly helped turn his teacher into the creature. The villain had motive and a lot of character despite there being a lot to introduce in such little time, mainly because of his wife being dragged into it. Many consider this episode the highlight of the entire series. Put in fewer words, it's the best introduction to the Amazing Spider-Man you could animate. Quotes "New York City, if only everything down there was as peaceful as it looks from up here." : '-Spider-Man' "What's this? Another satisfied graduate of the New York City cab driving academy?" : '-Spider-Man after witnessing the run away van' "Red eyes, red eyes their after me." "Uh-huh. And did they belong to little pink elephants?" : '-Subway worker and Spider-Man' "This lizard thing is probably just an urban myth." (Spider-Man finds a giant lizard footprint) "Wait a minute. Looks like I was myth-taken." : '-Spider-Man' "Oh no, Debra Whitman. The little sister I never had, or wanted." : '-Peter Parker' "You were down right brave back there. It was quite a surprise." "Why Ms. Whitman, is that a compliment. . . from you?" "Don't push your luck." : '-Debra Whitman & Peter Parker' "Wow! Your for real! Just hold that pose smiley." : '-Spider-Man talking to the Lizard' "Good reflexes for a future handbag." : '-Spider-Man to the Lizard' "When am I going to get the hang of being a superhero and photographer at the same time?" : '-Spider-Man after dropping his camera in water' "Why can't I be one of those galaxy hunting superheroes? Why do I end up in the sewers? You don't find the Fantastic Four in a sewer. Or the Avengers. Never have I seen the Avengers in the sewer. . . or the Defenders. Well maybe the Hulk." : '-Spider-Man' "You'll come back for me right?" "Hey, I'm the hero remember?" : '-The subway worker & Spider-Man' "I'm the first of a new race, a better race." : '-Lizard' "Only gonna get one chance at this or I'm lizard food! Uh-oh, chow time!" : '-Spider-Man' "Strange. So strange. A week ago this creature was a scientist, my teacher, my friend. He cared for people and wanted to help them just as I do. But now look at the both of us. Fighting each other. Fighting for our lives." : '-Spider-Man' "I tell ya JJ the Lizard is Curt Connors. I would've had you out here earlier but Spider-Man webbed me." "Dr. Connors is a respected scientist, Brock. And Peter Parker already brought me photos of the Lizard early this morning." "But I'll show you the Lizard himself." (Brock rings the doorbell) "You better be right about this." "If I'm wrong I'll eat today's issue of the Bugle." (Curt opens the door and is a normal human.) "J. Jonah Jameson, what brings you here this morning?" (Jameson hands Brock the newspaper) "Do you want it cooked or raw?" : '-Eddie Brock, J. Jonah Jameson & Curt Connors' "Aunt May, she'd never understand. Spider-Man's already caught in his web, and for better or worse he and I are stuck together. . . forever." : '-Spider-Man' Category:A-Z Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 episodes